Virat Kohli looking to bring in Manish Pandey in place of Kedar Jadhav

After comprehensively taking a 3-0 lead in the ongoing ODI series against South Africa, India have been jolted by the news of Kedar Jadhav’s groin injury.

The pint-sized all-rounder injured himself in the third ODI while fielding, as Kedar pulled his groin muscle on the field.

Jadhav had to go off and had to be treated by the team physio, who has certainly ruled him out of the next ODI.

This will be a blow to the Indian side, as Jadhav provided great balance and a wonderful bowling option to Kohli. His low-arm off spinners are not easy to play against, which is why he very effective in the middle overs.

Currently Jadhav and Pandya share the fifth bowler’s ten overs, making the Pune all-rounder very important to the side.

But this latest injury will be a setback to Kohli’s plans and might cause a change in the batting line-up.

There are talks of either Axar Patel or Manish Pandey to be brought in to the side.

Axar would provide India with the bowling option that they need for the match. The rise of Chahal and Kuldeep have seen limited opportunities for Axar over the past few series, but he remains an integral of the Indian setup.

Also, Virat Kohl’s form is papering over the underlying cracks in the Indian middle-order. Rahane played very well in Cape Town but then failed in the last ODI, while Pandya, Dhoni and Kedar hardly contributed in the third ODI.

An early dismissal for Kohli could spell curtains for the Indian batting line-up, which is why Manish Pandey’s inclusion makes more sense.

Here is the starting line-up:

Rohit Sharma

Shikhar Dhawan

Virat Kohli (captain)

Ajinkya Rahane

Manish Pandey

MS Dhoni

Hardik Pandya

Bhuvneshwar Kumar

Kuldeep Yadav

Yuzvendra Chahal